Mir Qasim, the Battle of Buxar (1764) and Dual Government

After Plassey the English removed Nawabs who did not obey, and at Buxar (22 October 1764) they defeated three powers together and gained the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa (1765).

Mir Jafar and Mir Qasim

• Mir Jafar could not pay the Company's growing demands and was replaced in 1760 by his son-in-law Mir Qasim. By the Treaty of 1760 Mir Qasim gave the Company the districts of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong.
• Mir Qasim was an able ruler. He moved the capital to Monghyr, built a modern army, reorganised finances, and abolished all internal duties so that Indian traders could compete with the Company's duty-free trade.
• The Company declared this unfair, and war followed. Mir Qasim lost at Katwa, Giria and Udaynala (1763) and fled to Awadh. Mir Jafar was set up again.

The Battle of Buxar (22 October 1764)

• Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula (Nawab of Awadh) and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II joined against the English.
• Major Hector Munro led the English army and won decisively at Buxar (Bihar).
• It was a real victory of the superior English army, unlike Plassey.

The Treaty of Allahabad (August 1765)

Robert Clive returned as Governor (1765 to 1767) and made two settlements:

The new Nawab of Bengal, Najm-ud-Daula, received the nizamat (law and order) for a payment of Rs 53 lakh.

Dual government (1765 to 1772)

• Company: controlled revenue (Diwani) and the army. Nawab: held the nizamat (administration of justice), but had no money or power.
• The Company's Indian deputies were Muhammad Reza Khan (Bengal) and Raja Shitab Roy (Bihar).
• It meant power without responsibility for the Company and responsibility without power for the Nawab. The peasants suffered heavily, and the Bengal Famine of 1770 killed millions (a third of the population by some estimates).
• Warren Hastings ended dual government in 1772, and the Company took over the Diwani directly.